Ferrari FF coupe (2011-2016)

The FF is a landmark car for Ferrari – its first model to get four-wheel drive. It's also the company's most practical car to date, offering supercar thrills for all the family thanks to its spacious four-seater interior and reasonably sized boot. The FF's innovative, lightweight all-wheel-drive system even allows it to drive on snow.

The Ferrari FF replaces the 612 Scaglietti, but uses a larger 6.3-litre V12 engine that can produce 651bhp. As you'd imagine, performance is staggering, with a top speed of over 200mph, making the Ferrari FF the fastest four-seater on the planet. However, this capability doesn't come cheap – the FF costs a bomb to buy and to run. Routine maintenance shouldn't be a problem, though, as the Ferrari FF comes with seven years' free servicing.

The Ferrari FF has now been discontinued. It is scheduled to be replaced by the GTC4Lusso.

The FF has a serious thirst for fuel. Ferrari says it will return 18mpg, but use the engine with any aggression at all and single figures are more likely. Then there's the CO2 emissions of 360g/km, which mean the car will cost £505 a year to tax. Insurance won't be cheap either, but really the biggest cost with a £227,000 car will always be depreciation.

The FF delivers truly staggering performance, with a 0-62mph time of just 3.7 seconds and a top speed of more than 200mph. Yet, despite its incredible V12 power, this Ferrari is incredibly easy to drive. Clever technology enables even inexperienced drivers to enjoy the car's performance in relative safety, while the all-wheel-drive system ensures impressive grip in damp or snowy conditions.

Factor in light controls, strong brakes, a fast-shifting automatic gearbox and surprisingly good all-round visibility, and you have a supercar that anyone can enjoy. However, the FF's 1,880kg weight and large dimensions mean it never feels as pure or as connected to the road as the mid-engined, two-seater Ferrari 458 Italia.

As long as they're not expecting the comfort of a Bentley, most people will have little to complain about on a long journey in an FF. The luxury sports seat hold you firmly in place, but are sufficiently cosseting to take the strain out of long stints behind the wheel. There's also enough head and legroom in the back for six-foot-tall adults.

In comfort mode, the suspension does an okay job of ironing out bumps in the road while still retaining the taut agility you’d expect from a Ferrari. And while the engine is very vocal, it's such a delightful noise that it never gets on your nerves. But wide wheels do create quite a bit of tyre roar at motorway speeds and the automatic gearbox can feel a bit jerky around town.

This is about as practical as supercars get. The boot is a decent size, with about the same amount of space as a small family hatchback, while the fold-down rear seats mean you can even carry longer items – such as skis – inside the FF. The rear seats are roomy too, making this a genuine four-seater Ferrari. Plus, decent in-car storage provides plenty of places to keep odds and ends.

Ferrari has significantly improved its build quality in recent years, deploying much of its Formula One know-how into building road cars. Fit and finish inside the FF is impeccable and its precision-engineered performance parts should provide peace of mind to buyers. What's more, all FFs come with seven years' free servicing to keep them in tip-top condition.

The FF is a very expensive car, but then it's also a very exclusive car. And you can make it even more exclusive with a wide range of options. However, even millionaires should beware, because some of these are often unreasonably pricey. For example, one of the darker red paint schemes costs £11,000. Then there's the fact that for the same price as the FF, you could have a Ferrari 458 for the weekends and an Audi S6 quattro for daily use.